He made for the narrow spiral stairs that led to the main floor of the barn, stopped at its head, then backed away.
Red"s mother was moving up, panting a little with the exertion and smiling a tight smile for the benefit of Slim in his capacity as guest.
"Red! You, Red! Are you up there? Now don"t try to hide. I know this is where you"re keeping them. Cook saw where you ran with the meat."
Red quavered, "h.e.l.lo, Ma!"
"Now show me those nasty animals. I"m going to see to it that you get rid of them right away."
It was over! And despite the imminent corporal punishment, Red felt something like a load fall from him. At least the decision was out of his hands.
"Right there, Ma. I didn"t do anything to them, Ma. I didn"t know. They just looked like little animals and I thought you"d let me keep them, Ma. I wouldn"t have taken the meat only they wouldn"t eat gra.s.s or leaves and we couldn"t find good nuts or berries and Cook never lets me have anything or I would. have asked her and I didn"t know it was for lunch and:--"
He was speaking on the sheer momentum of terror and did not realize that his mother did not hear him but, with eyes frozen and popping at the cage, was screaming in thin, piercing tones.
TEN.
The Astronomer was saying, "A quiet burial is all we can do. There is no point in any publicity now," when they heard the screams.
She had not entirely recovered by the time she reached them, running and running. It was minutes before her husband could extract sense from her.
She was saying finally, "I tell you they"re in the barn. I don"t know what they are. No, no-."
She barred the Industrialist"s quick movement in that direction. She said, "Don"t you go. Send one of the hands with a Shotgun. I tell you I never saw anything like it. Little horrible beasts with-with-- I can"t describe it. To think that Red was touching them and trying to feed them. He was holding them, and feeding them meat."
Red began, "I only--"
And Slim said, "It wasn"t--"
The Industrialist said quickly, "Now you boys have done enough harm today. March! Into the house! And not a word; not one word! I"m not interested in anything you have to say. After this is all over, I"ll hear you out and as for you, Red, I"ll see that you"re properly punished."
He turned to his wife, "Now whatever the animals are, we"ll have them killed." He added quietly once the youngsters were out of hearing, "Come, come. The children aren"t hurt, and after all, they haven"t done anything really terrible. They"ve just found a new pet."
The Astronomer spoke with difficulty. "Pardon me, ma"am, but can you describe these animals?"
She shook her head. She was quite beyond words.
"Can you just tell me if they--"
"I"m sorry," said the Industrialist apologetically, "but I think I had better take care of her. Will you excuse me?"
"A moment. Please. One moment. She said she had never seen such animals before. Surely it is not usual to find animals that are completely unique on an estate such as this."
"I"m sorry. Let"s not discuss that now."
"Except that unique animals might have landed during the night."
The Industrialist stepped away from his wife. "What are you implying?"
"I think we had better go to the barn, sir!"
The Industrialist stared a moment, turned, and suddenly and quite uncharacteristically began running. The Astronomer followed and the woman"s wail rose unheeded behind them.
ELEVEN.
The Industrialist stared, looked at the Astronomer, turned to stare again.
"Those?"
"Those," said the Astronomer. "I have no doubt we appear as strange and repulsive to them."
"What do they say?"
"Why, that they are uncomfortable and tired and even a little sick, but that they are not seriously damaged, and that the youngsters treated them well."
"Treated them well! Scooping them up, keeping them in a cage, giving them gra.s.s and raw meat to eat? Tell me how to speak to them."
"It may take a little time. Think at them. Try to listen. It will come to you, but perhaps not right away."
The Industrialist tried. He grimaced with the effort of it, thinking over and over again, The youngsters were ignorant of your ident.i.ty.
And the thought was suddenly in his mind, We were quite aware of it and because we knew they meant well by us according to their own view of the matter, we did not attempt to attack them.
Attack them? thought the Industrialist, and said it aloud in his concentration.
Why, yes, came the answering thought. We are armed.
One of the revolting little creatures in the cage lifted a metal object and there was a sudden hole in the top of the cage and another in the roof of the barn, each hole rimmed with charred wood.
We hope, the creatures thought, it will not be too difficult to make repairs.
The Industrialist found it impossible to organize himself to the point of directed thought. He turned to the Astronomer. "And with that weapon in their possession, they let themselves be handled and caged? I don"t understand it."
But the calm thought came, We would not harm the young of an intelligent species.
TWELVE.
It was twilight. The Industrialist had entirely missed the evening meal and remained unaware of the fact.
He said, "Do you really think the ship will fly?"
"If they say so," said the Astronomer, "I"m sure it will. They"ll be back, I hope, before too long."
"And when they do," said the Industrialist energetically, "I will keep my part of the agreement. What is more I will move sky and earth to have the world accept them. I was entirely wrong, Doctor. Creatures that would refuse to harm children under such provocation as they received are admirable, But you know-I almost hate to say this-"
"Say what?"
"The kids. Yours and mine. I"m almost proud of them.
Imagine seizing these creatures, feeding them or trying to, and keeping them hidden. The amazing gall of it. Red told me it was his idea to get a job in a circus on the strength of them. Imagine!"
The Astronomer said, "Youth!"
THIRTEEN.
The Merchant said, "Will we be taking off soon?"
"Half an hour," said the Explorer.
It was going to be a lonely trip back. All the remaining seventeen of the crew were dead and their ashes were to be left on a strange planet. Back they would go with a limping ship and the burden of the controls entirely on himself.
The Merchant said, "It was a good business stroke, not harming the young ones. We will get very good terms; very good terms."
The Explorer thought, Business!
The Merchant said, "They"ve lined up to see us off. All of them. You don"t think they"re too close, do you? It would be bad to burn any of them with the rocket blast at this stage of the game."
"They"re safe."
"Horrible-looking things, aren"t they?"
"Pleasant enough, inside. Their thoughts are perfectly friendly."
"You wouldn"t believe it of them. That immature one, the one that first picked us up-"
"They call him Red."
"That"s a queer name for a monster. Makes me laugh. He actually feels bad that we"re leaving. Only I can"t make out exactly why. The nearest I can come to it is something about a lost opportunity with some organization or other that I can"t quite interpret."
"A circus," said the Explorer briefly.
"What? Why, the impertinent monstrosity."
"Why not? What would you have done if you had found him wandering on your native world; found him sleeping on a field on Earth, red tentacles, six legs, pseudopods and all?"
FOURTEEN.
Red watched the ship leave. His red tentacles, which gave him his nickname, quivered their regret at lost opportunity to the very last, and the eyes at their tips filled with drifting yellowish crystals that were the equivalent of Earthly tears.
The Deep
ONE.
In the end, any particular planet must die. It may be a quick death as its sun explodes. It may be a slow death, as its sun sinks into decay and its oceans lock in ice. In the latter case, at least, intelligent life has a chance of survival.
The direction of survival may be outward into s.p.a.ce, to a planet closer to the cooling sun or to a planet of another sun altogether. This particular avenue is closed if the planet is unfortunate enough to be the only significant body rotating about its primary and if, at the time, no other star is within half a thousand light-years.
The direction of survival may be inward, into the crust of the planet. That is always available. A new home can be built underground and the heat of the planet"s core can be tapped for energy. Thousands of years may be necessary for the task, but a dying sun cools slowly.
But planetary warmth dies, too, with time. Burrows must be dug deeper and deeper until the planet is dead through and through.
The time was coming.
On the surface of the planet, wisps of neon blew listlessly, barely able to stir the pools of oxygen that collected in the lowlands. Occasionally, during the long day, the crusted sun would flare briefly into a dull red glow and the oxygen pools would bubble a little.
During the long night, a blue-white oxygen frost formed over the pools and on the bare rock, a neon dew formed.
Eight hundred miles below the surface, a last bubble of warmth and life existed.